[xiziz]

So, what else to do on your vaccation than to start fitting silentcoat 2mm all over. Got 40 sheets for 75% off! And some damping materials.
I did the bonnet, boot door and the four door cards with ~75% coverage and did some on the drivers side inner skin.

Result is amazing! (Or our roads are just so terrible that every little helps a lot).

Now I just need a good two-three sunny days to rip out the boot interior, chairs, floor and roof and give it a good treatment too. Sounds like most sound is coming through the floor now(before it was like sitting in a rockgrinder.

Who said problems cant be built away.

[Dazzler]

That's great to hear, especially since you got it cheap. I love a bargain! Few will be surprised at me saying that...

[AlanHo]

I have been down this road as you will see in this thread

Installing Noise Insulation - GD i30 CRDi

In my case the sound insulation material was about 6 mm thick and like the stuff you used very sticky. I had a heck of a job peeling it off.

I can imagine the material would  stop a big flat thin steel plate from vibrating - but car panels are not flat - they are curved or creased which stops the panel from acting like a drum skin and vibrating.

I too thought the insulation on my car had made a difference - but I think it was a placebo effect and my decibel meter told me that it was not the case - the difference was marginal simply because tyre roar was hardly muted at all.

Sorry to be a wet blanket - and I hope you have had more success than I did with professional fitters

[xiziz]

So I did the roof and boot today; nice and sunny so good to be out and good lighting to work under, out big yellow friend in the sky.

Took some pictures this time if anyone wants to see. Total time was 6h today, 1½h to take the roof down and un-trim the boot. Another hour for putting it back together. 30 minutes to mount the damned babyseat back in! So maybe 3 hours of active sticking and cutting.

Every time I take something apart on the I30, I am pleasantly surprised how easy it comes apart and back together again, unlike my previous German and Swedish cars...

I30 Sound insulation (roof & boot) - Album on Imgur

@AlanHo , yeah, I've read your thread too, I'm not expecting the car to become a Rolls Royce with 20kg of deadening, but to take the worst roar and associated vibrations through all (interior) panels when driving on our bad roads (the gravel/bitumen mixed ones) which I travel a fair bit on, about half my commute(so 1h/day).

So far it seems to be helping to mute it a lot, I don't think the db level has changed a lot on asphalt roads, but road noise has gone from a high roar to a low rumble and the radio(especially mid-range and vocals) sound a lot clearer (probably a lot thanks to the insulation I put in the roof). Its made a big difference on the gravel/bitumen mix roads that have a very coarse surface, its even possible to talk to a passenger when driving on them now!

The insulation should help heat the car faster in the winter too(and  help the AC keep it cool if its an exceptionally warm day here).

I still get a fair amount of road noise through the windows and floor. The road noise coming from behind is almost gone though(or rather I can't hear it because of the noise from the floor). I can actually hear wind noise through the door now, something I never heard under 120kph before.

Not expecting to get so much less of it until next summer when I'll be buying new tires. I've still got 2.5sqm of silentcoat left, if I feel up to it and get a good sunny day I'll take the font seats out and have a go at the floor otherwise it will probably go inside the wheel arches (on the inside of the plastic) where I have heard its supposed to do good.

Wife says she hears a big difference, and she is the one who has better hearing(mine got a beating when I did my military service), though she might just be saying that to keep me happy after spending so many hours on this project!

[Dazzler]

Awesome post Xiziz. Sounds very promising (did you see what I did there)

I found the photos interesting too. The finish under the trim is impressive.

Big job! You are braver than me pulling all that stuff apart! 

[sundiz]

Nice work!

I thought GD was quiet. At least my FD has poor sound levels when compared to petrol GD. Especially in highway speeds.

[sundiz]

Your story made this job sound too easy 

I looked local shop and they sell 40 sheets for 80€. I don´t know if it is cheap or not. The poor sound damping has been one of the things I don't like in my FD. I was thinking of getting webasto or eberspacher for the winter, but this kind of project might be also worth the effort.

[Dazzler]

There is still more tyre rumble (it's more of a rumble, like thunder than a roar) in the PD SR than I would like. Guessing the 225/40 R18 on the SR are probably noisier than the lower models. It is better with the tyres at 34psi though.

[xiziz]

@sundiz I payed about 30 € for 40 sheets, so far used 60 in the car and none in the floor yet - rainy weather. Its not that hard, but time consuming popping the interiors off, especially beeing careful not to break anything.
Edit: I can actually hear the engine below 3k rpm now! GD has good enough sound levels compared to similar cars - compared to my previous two cars its like a tin can(or was). Volvo s80 and merc c180, so in a different leauge(and ten years older).

@Dazzler Haha, yeah, low profile will do that! One reason I'd rather have 15" on mine(the other beeing cost, both tires and fuel) but I'm too cheap to replace the 16" I have (winter tires are on 15", works well both stability, less noise than the hankook summers and good consumption despite studds). I recon the biggest upgrade will be next spring when I get nokian green or continentals on.

[electroman5000]

xiziz

Hey, xiziz!

Glad to hear, that you've managed to get decent results from your job.
I'm planning to do sound deadening/insulation on my GD next weekend as well.  Was hoping to take out all seats and do the boot, arches and floor.  Don't want to touch the doors, because the acoustics fitting shop will put sound deadening/insulation in them by default if I change speakers at their place. And am a bit afraid to touch the roof.

Can you describe briefly the sequence of removing the interior trim panels (i.e. what comes first, second, third, etc...), and what to be aware of, what can break if pulled/pushed too hard?
And how much of materials did you use (sq. m) for your job?

Many thanks!

[xiziz]

@electroman5000

I think I used 5-6 sqm of 2mm vibrodampening, did the hood, boot, bootlid, interior doorpanels and the roof with that. Got 2-3sqm left of it. Roof used the most, boot second most.

Then I used a mix of buffler and absorber(over driver/passenger seat) in the roof (buffler in the rear and hoodlid)

I have not yet taken the seats out, but I think the first order of business is to bolt the seats out, then start removing the center console and panels that are closest to the door and the mat should come up easily. Remove the rear seats too, I think a lot of noise comes up that way!

I recommend buying some plastic trim removal tools so you don't scratch or break panels.

Some finesse is needed to remove them but if you make sure you have plenty of time and a backup plan in case you don't finish on time(so you don't get stressed) and take it nice and slow you should be able to see what needs coming off. Mark off any bolts(some pieces sit with 8 or 10mm bolts, boot sides for example) so you know where they belong - take pictures, great help when reinstalling everything. Most likely to break are the plastic clips(they pull straight out and if you get them at an angle they break), you can practice on the ones in the hood first(and the dealer sells extras if you need em)!

Only thing I thought was a pain to remove was the roof, since I needed to take down the boot sides for it to come down, and its got cables clued down on it that you have to be careful not to break(I did not remove it from the car, just lowered it enough to fit the dampers/absorbers and bufflers.


The only drawback I noticed so far is that the radio(FM) now sounds really flat compared to mp3s from the USB, which sound fantastic! Radio(FM) probably sounds just as flat as it did before though. Just hoping to get a nice sunny weekend so I can strip my seats out and put in the rest of the insulation in the floor,  been raining for 3 weeks straight now and I needed to fix a window and balcony on the house first.